(KWNO) A motion to move forward on a project that would reduce a stretch of Broadway St. From four lanes to three failed during Tuesday night’s Winona City Council meeting.
The motion to move forward came up one vote short as the final tally was 3-3. The project council debated calls for reducing traffic lanes on Broadway from Sioux St. To Mankato Ave., adding bike lanes in both directions, and getting sidewalks along that stretch up to ADA compliance.
The motion, proposed by Second Ward Councilwoman Eileen Moeller, nixed the addition of pedestrian bump-outs.
Councilman George Borzyskowski is opposed to the project. He doesn’t believe redesigning the road protects citizens from poor driving and walking habits.
“Are we stopping or yielding to pedestrians and bicyclists? Are they watching for us? Are they coming across the street with headphones on, earplugs in whatever it may be? And are we off the phone and watching where we are going? Is narrowing the road going to change our driving conduct? I don’t believe it will,” Borzyskowski said.
Second Ward Councilwoman Eileen Moeller said she was baffled the council is still disagreeing over the appropriateness of the project.
“I don’t know what else to say. I don’t know how many deaths or near misses or people getting hit on their bikes can tell you that flashing lights are not working. I can’t believe that I’m having to argue for whether or not we want people to get killed when they cross the street,” Moeller said.
First Ward Councilman Steve Young voted against it, fearing the road diet would steer traffic away from downtown.
“I’m concerned that we will have unintended consequences of driving traffic, especially out to Sarnia, and not curing that traffic downtown. We don’t want to drive development to the edge of town we want to drive development downtown. That’s why my opinion is that Broadway needs to remain the broad way,” Young said.
Third ward Councilwoman Pam Eyden supports the project, saying her constants cross Broadway to get downtown for events and business.
“There’s a lot of pedestrians here in the third ward who really find it intimating to cross Broadway,” Eyden said.
Borzyskowski and Young were joined in opposition by At-Large Councilman Aaron Repinski. Mayor Scott Sherman voted with Moeller and Eyden.
At-Large Councilwoman Michelle Alexander was absent from the meeting.
City Manager Steve Sarvi said the split vote gives staff a lack of direction on the project. He says the city has roughly $90,000 allocated for the bidding process that could be wasted if city staff were to move forward on the project only to have the council vote at a later time to scrap it.
The last decisive vote from the council came last June when the council approved the project on a 4-3 vote. Sarvi advocated for a full council vote before late February to give city staff direction on whether or not to proceed with the project or terminate it altogether.
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